A String of Todays

“There is no tomorrow, only a string of todays.” 
-Mark Nepo,  The Book of Awakening 

For those who dread another birthday, I’d like to offer instead a conciliation of reflections of stringing together todays.  Take time and think of several memories during the past year of becoming one year older and recall the story surrounding it. After all, every life is a sequence of stories of todays. Please indulge me on this my birthday month while I share a few of my heart-felt memories of ‘todays’ wrapped in the magic of remembering the past year. 

On the Saturday before Easter, my son and his wife surprised me with the news of becoming a grandmother. They presented me with a hand drawn Easter card with a bunny carrying a basket full of colored eggs with the inscription:  There’s something extra in the basket this Easter!!   Inside a black and white photo image of an embryo the size of a bean. We called him Bean. His first string of todays for me began on that special day. 

One month later, on the day of my birthday, my friend Randy surprised me with gifts and shared our dinner with two dear lady friends. A week prior to the dinner, he had emailed me several thought-provoking questions to answer including: what are your two best memories from the past year? what books most impacted or changed your life this year? if you were a plant or animal to describe the last year, what would you be and why and what would you like more of in the coming year? Although a bit daunting to answer fifteen inquiries, at dinner the four of us participated in answering as many as we could. Together, we welcomed another year; tying our friendship to a string of memorable birthdays.  

In August, after years of both physical and mental decline, my sweet mother passed to her home in heaven. The night before she took her last breath I was with her. I held her in my arms lying in bed next to her body pressed against mine for the last time releasing the earthly strings that held us still together. Her eyes opened looking forward to something only she could see, breathing deeply with the sound of death near by. I made sure she knew her children loved her…absolutely. Just a few hours later she was gone --her unwavering spirit of determination and courage left behind for us to commit to memory. At the end of her visible life, she left her invisible string tied firmly around us. 

In October Bean was born 3 weeks early weighting 5lbs, 13 ounces. A perfect baby boy born to a couple who a year earlier did not have any assurance of ever having a child. Mr. Finn, another miracle in the line-up of strings of todays. 

In October Mary Beth and I published and launched  Living Brave…Women in Business , the third book in the series of Stories that Inspire and combined it with a conference, Voices of Success, A Day of Inspiration. To say the day was a success would undermine the effect the day had on all of us attending. ‘Inspired by the speakers, lifted by the music and emotionally nourished’ are comments we continue to hear months later. We remain tethered to the many strings of the day and stay open to where  Living Brave will take us next. 

On June 3, 1968, four days after my 18th birthday I began my career as a hairstylist. I have completed 50 years in an industry that has choreographed my entire adult life. The memories of places, people, clients and co-workers, assistants, team-members and vendors have shaped my values and directed my professional and personal views.  They are braided threads of a diverse life, joyful and painful….failed and successful, they are the strings of todays that continue to hold me devoted to the daily ritual of showing up at Pluma Designs.   

May your tomorrow be yet another string of your todays.